Marv

The metal under the big central area just needs a little lip against the edge with the radiator or put a a strip of door openiing pinchweld to stop it rubbing against the radiator.The two little cutouts on either side I sealed with insertion rubber glued in place with silicone sealer. This stayed in place with no problem for a about 15 years before I sold the car. I even repainted the complete support panel with black chassis paint and the colour adhered fine to the rubber. This car was originally a 272 Y with Fordo and yes the gear shift was on the right (against the door pillar). The column shift was taken out a long time before I bought the car.

Bob

I loved the B&M shifter but of course it was for a LHD car so the shifter never did fit in the hand correctly and the indicator for the gears was on the wrong side as well. Well spotted that I had it upside down, otherwise I would have had to lay on the seat to change gear comfortably with my left hand. The boys in blue would have loved that.

I thought the car underbonnet was a bit scruffy so I have shown you that it looked a lot better outside. I have never been one for bling under the bonnet.



Regards

Rick - West Australia
Do Y Blocks Downunder run upside down? Gravity Sucks!!

Rick, I think you flipped your picture It even says B&M upside down on the shifter Dang that looks strange.

BOB

Were not the shift lever on the right for automatic cars and on the left of the column for standard trans cars.



Rick:



How did you stamp or bend the tin for the deflector?

marv

As Bill mentioned our '58 was basically a '55 Canadian Meteor with a hodge-podge dash. Not as nice as the US '56 but the closest we got here in Oz.



I think I have got this sussed out now.

Regards

Rick

Rick - West Australia
Do Y Blocks Downunder run upside down? Gravity Sucks!!

I kept the air deflector on my '56 Customline HT, had it powdercoated and installed new rubber seals using pop rivetes instead of the original staples. You do have to be careful you don't bend it when leaning over the front of the engine, but it is functional and looks pretty cool.

rono

  Ron Lane,  Meridian, ID

Mark yes, the 55 was 6volt and 56 on was 12 volt same as usa, we didnt have fairlane series car but carried the customline through to mid 59. In 57 ford Australia used up what appears to be the 56 fairlane side trim and even the trunk emblem insert was changed to read customline instead of fairlane, then in 58/59 they used 55 mercury meteor grill theme and side trim and we called them Star models because of the grill star emblem. They had dash similar to the fairlane series dash but with speedo and only 2 guages, the clock and heater option had delete panels, i dont have dash pics handy but maybe lon or rick may have, it is an interesting difference. We had exterior sunvisors, dual mirrors, door handle scratch plates, rear window venetian blind, power brakes, screen washers, number plate backing frames, towbars, as popular options, a lot had clear plastic covering the inner door trims and seats to protect them. Thanks for your interest. regards bill.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

AussieBill! Thats really interesting.I did not know you had the 55 dash and not the 56 style.55 dash with 12 volts OR 6 volts?I was told the 55-56 body style was used right through midyear 59 when you caught up with the rest of the world and got the oceanliner 59 body style.Is this correct?Interesting to know this info.I did not know the Y-block was used for many years after 64 in South America either until somone posted that info on this site.By the way,the heater was an option in USA also.I have an original bill of sale for a 56 Town Sedan sold in Virginia and the heater as well as the windshield washer system was an additional cost option.

  

Mark, heaters here were an option due to the generally hot conditions allready, as you may know we had 55,56 57 customlines with the 3 round holes in dash, generally they had a radio in middle and clock to the left and the right side had heater delete, the heater was bolted on LH inner fender and air intake was joined into the flapper valve tube there, then a 3" hole was cut in the firewall about lower dash level and a box with 2 air outlets directed air UP to the screen vents, and a hinged flap directed the air either up there or down to the floor, this was controlled by a push/pull cable and on/off switch for the fan in the fender mounted air box and  they were mounted in the delete position on the dash, very basic! the 58/59 models had different dash layout, same heater system but nice cast dash controls like a 59/60 fairlane galaxie type. The heaters were SMITHS and similar to ones in british MG cars. That my friend is the heater story.

yyy

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Thanks Rick! Now I understand what you were trying to describe.Kind of makes you wonder why the cutouts were there from the factory if being "solid" would have improved cooling.Has anyone else noticed the location of the master cylinder on these "downunder" Fords?Where does the heater go when installed Rick?

  

Hopefully this photo is the other view of the engine bay.

Regards

Rick - West Australia
Do Y Blocks Downunder run upside down? Gravity Sucks!!